Apparatus for making modified starches.



A. W. H. LENDERS.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING MODlFlED STARCHES.

APPLICATION FiLED MAY 8. 1913.

1,159,591 Patented Nov 9, M5,

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APPLICATION FILED MAY 8, 1913 1 159 591 a Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

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ADOLPH W. H. LENDERS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR lVlAKING MODIFIED STARCHES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 9, 1915.

Application filed May 8, 1913. Serial No. 766,332.

' lowing is a specification.

1 My invention relates to the manufacture of modified starches such as soluble starch, thin boiling starch, dextrin, British gum, and allied products; and the invention has for one of its objects to provide a simple, compact and inexpensive apparatus for making nmodified starches by means of which these products can be made in relatively small quantities and by persons who are not skilled chemists orexpcrts in this art, a specific purpose of the invention, in this regard, being to provide an apparatus which w1ll not be costly and which will not take 'up much room, that can. 'be used, for example, by a consumer of dextrin or other allied product for making the substance when and in the quantities required.

The invention has for further objects 1;?) provide an apparatus for the manufacture of modified starches, by means of which the starch and acid may be thoroughly mixed and the process of conversion carried on in such manner that the product will be'uniformly converted throughout without dis coloration of any part of the batch or the formation of lumps or other impurities requiring removal before the product is marketed. v A further object is to provide anapparatus for making anodified starches which may be very conveniently and accurately controlled, whereby it may be employed for making either soluble starch, dextrin, British gum or any other products derived from starch by partial conversion of the same, difi'ering in degree according to the particular products.

The invention has for further objects the other new and improved constructions, arrangements and devices relating to the inanufacture of modified starches to be hereinafter described and claimed.

The invention is illustrated in a preferred embodiment in the accompanying drawings,

Figure I is a side elevation of the appa tration of the construction and operation of said apparatus; and Fig. 2, a sectional elevation taken on line 22 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Like characters of reference designate like parts in the several figurcs' 'of the drawings.

Referring to the drawings, my improved apparatus consists of a acketed dextrinizing vessel a mixing and conveying mechanism B, which delivers mto the dextrinlzing vesvel, abin C into which the starch to be treated may be placed in any suitable man nor, an elevator D, preferably, though not essentially, of'the chain and bucket type, which transports the starch placed in the bin C and delivers the same into the conv'eyer and mixer B, an agitator E within the dextrinizing vessel A, a vessel F containing acid and provided with .an atomizing nozzle G arranged so as to introduce acid into. the starch handled by the mixing and conveying mechanism B, a pump H, an air reservoir 1 for operating the atomizer, and a suitable motor J, together with driving connections from the motor to the several moving parts of the apparatus and certain valves to be hereinafter described in connection with the more detailed description of the apparatus.

The elevator D is contained in a housing 10 separated from the bin C by a slide valve 11 operated by the hand lever 12. The starch in the bottom of the housing 10 is picked up by the buckets 13 of the elevator and discharged into a hopper 1 1 which leads to an opening 15 inthe casing of the conveying and mixing .mechanism B. The mouth 16 of the hopper is provided with a slide valve 17 whereby the rate of delivery of the starch to the mixing and conveying mechanismpand hence to the dextrinizing vessel A, may be regulated. The atomizer nozzle G projects into the mouth 16 of the hopper lat so that as the starch fa ls in a continuous stream from a hopper to the mixer it receives a properly proportioned amount of acid. i

A pipe 18 conducts compressed air-from the tank I to the atomizing nozzle. .The tank is preferably provided with a pressure gage 19 so that by keeping the pressure at may be delivered to the starch, having referenoe to the rate of delivery of the starch to the dextrinizing vessel which is controlled bythe position of slide valve 17. Any suitable means may be employed for keeping up 'pnmp. Any suitable apparatus in hearings in the supports the pressure in the reservoir I. The pump H shown in the drawings is a simple handmight be employed for conveying the acidified starch to the dextrinizing vessel. 1 have shown a worm conveyor, the flight l) of which is notched and its shaft 20 provided with blades or prongs 21. The purpose of this construction is to provide for the thorough mixing of. the acid and starch during the movement of the same from the hopper it to the dextrinizing vessel.

The dextrinizing vessel A is provided with a jacket 22 into which the steam supply pipe 23 is fitted, having a valve 24. Leading to the bottom of the jacket is a war r pipe "25 having a. valve 26 and at t! e upper part of the acket is a. water outlet pipe 2'4 provided with a valve 28. Vv'hen a batch o f starch, properly acidulated and of the d sired quantity, has been run into the dextriniz ng vessel, steam is mlli'iit""i to the. jacket. The material is kept in agitation by the movement of the agitator blad When the conversion of the starch has 1 carried far enough (having reference to the particular product required) the steam is shut oil and cold water admitted to the steam jacket through pipe 25, the .vater ontflowing through pipe 27. This sudden cool ing of the materialstops the conversion at the desired point. The jacket may be provided with the petcock 29. Preferably the vessel A is constructed with a h iod 30 ter f. nating in an outlet pipe 31 through which the vapors resulting from the heating of the acidulated starch may be carried oll'. Pref erably an exhaust fan 32 operated by an electric motor 33 is interposed in the pipe '31.

The moving parts of the apparatus are driven by the motor J (which is shown as an electric motor) through the following mechanisms: designa es a shaft revolving and cz'irryiug a sprocket wheel 38 driven by a chain 37 which extends around a sprocket wheel 38 on the armature shaft of the motor J. On one end of shaft 34 a bevel pinion 3'? which meshes with a bevel pinion 40 on a :haft 4.1 which extends into tluydextrinizing vessel A through a. suitable stuffing box 42 in the bot tom of said vessel. The agitator blades E are secured to the shaft 41. T e lower end of the shaft is supported in a bearing 4-3. lvlounted in bearings 44 on the supporting framework 45 is a countershaft 46 carrying a pulley 47 which is driven by belt 48 from a. pulley 49 on the shaft 34:. The countershaft 46 carries a sprocket wheel 50 which With a gear Wheel 54 on a shaft 55, on Which is fixed the upper sprocket wheel. 56 of the product will be uniform.

whole batch is converted as a unit.

starch.

elevator D, the lower sprocket vv'aeel of the elevator being designated 57. The pulley 4:9 is loose on the and is coupled thereto l):)*11'l-2\.'1S I erated by the lever 59. When the batch has been converted, it difichai td through an opening in the wa s of the converting vessel which is normally closed by the door 60.

it will be that with the method of acidulatiou above dcscril'ied, every portion of the batch recei es an equal amount of acid. l-lerctofore, it has been found dii'lic'ult in the manufacture of dextrin, for example, to uniformly acidulate the starch and moreover to pr' ent the formation of lumps. As result of uniformity of acidulation i. t degree of conversion in a given batch 1ft n i: t at the product was not no cut. My method is to deliver the sta. the dextrinizing vessel ata uniform r L to introduce into the stream of s passes to the dextr nizing vessel {l-ill in just suiiicient quantity so that each particle of starch receives the required amount of acid. in order to insure this the acid introduced, preferably, in the form of a spray, and the starch, after receiving the acid, is thoroughly mixed before it reaches the dextrinicing vessel. The steam not turned on until the entire batch has been run into the dextrinizing The agitator keeps the material in the vessel at an even temperature. This temperature can be varied at will bycontrol of .me steam. The starch induced into the is uniformly acidurated. As a result of these cond tions the Also there is no difficulty in controlling the apparatus. so as to obtain. different degrees of conversion, that is, so as to obtain dextrin or, any of the allied products, asinay be desired. By shutting oil the steam and immediatelycooling the hatch by causing cold water to run through the version is stop ed eiionce. Heretofore it int-ch 58 which is op-.

1 jacket the process of. conv has been customary to bolt the finished'prodnot through reels to remove the lumps and scale formed in the converting pans. This step obviated by my method which turns out a clear, uniform product,

roadly speaking, my invention contemplates acidulating the starch by a-continuous process by means of which the proportions as betweenstarch and acid can be so controlled as to give uniformity of acidulation and a proper degree of acidulation While,

after the starch has been acidulated, the It is not practical to have the conversion step a continuous operation, that is, one in which the product is removed from the dextrinvessel" little by little and its place taken by fresh This has been tried, but it has been found impossible to get a uniform product under such conditions.

My invention provides, it will be seen, an apparatus which is comparatively small and is compact in form, in which the entire operation of making dextrin or allied products may be performed. Having once learned how to set the valves, what pressure to maintain in the air and steam system, and the period that the steam should be kept turned on, the operator, even though not skilled in this art, will. not have any diiliculty in obtaining a uniform product.

While I have described my invention in certain preferred embodiments, it will be understood that modifications might be made Without departure from the invention sought to be covered herein.

I do not claim herein the above described process, as this process is subject matter of a divisional a plication filed June 25, 191%, Serial No. 8% ,286.

I claim: 1

1. In apparatus for manufacturing modified starches, the combination with a jacketed dextrinizing vessel, the jacket of which is provided with a steam connection and with water connections, of aconveying and mixin mechanism ada ted to deliver into.

said vessel, and means for introducing acid in measured quantities into the starch in said conveying and mixing mechanism.

2. In apparatus for manufacturing modified starches, the combination with a jacketed dextriniain vessel, the jacket of which is provided with a steam connection and with water connections, of a conveying and mixing mechanism adapted to deliver into said vessel, means for introducing acid in measured quantities into the starch in said conveying and mixing mechanism, and continuously operating agitating means in said vessel.

3. In apparatus for manufacturing modified starches, the combination with a jacketed dextrinizing'vessel, the jacket of which is provided with a steam connection and with water connections, of a screw conveyer and mixer adapted to deliver into said dextrinizing vessel, an elevator which delivers the starch into conveyer, a valve to control the rate of flow into the conveyor, and an atomizing device which is adapted;

to deliver acid to the starch as it passes from said elevator into said conveyor.

4. In apparatus for manufacturing modi fiedstaacl'ies the combination with a jacketed dextrinizing vessel, of means for acidifyr ing starch and delivering the same into said vessel, and means for introducing successively-steam and water into the jacket of said dextrinizing vessel for the purpose de scribed.

5. In apparatus for manufacturing modified starches, the combination with a hopper having a valve in the bottom, ascrew conveyer arranged under said valve the light of which is notched so to provide mixing blades, an atomizer arranged so as to spray the starch with an acid as it passes from the hopper into the conveyer, and a dextrinizing vessel arranged to receive the mixed starch and acid after passing through the conveyer.

6. .ln apparatus for manufacturing modificd starches, the combination with a hopper having a valve in the bottom, a screw conveyor arranged under said valve the flight of which is notched so as to provide mixing blades, an atomizer ar anged so as to spray the starch with an acid as it passes from the hopper into the conveyor, a den trinizing vessel arranged to receive the mixed starch and acid after passing through the conveyor, and an agitator in said vessel, said vessel being formed with a jacket and means for successively introducing steam and water into said jacket for "the purpose described.

7. ln apparatus for manufacturing modified starches, the combination of a steam jacketed dextrinizing vessel having a vapor outlet, a fan to remove the vapors from said vessel through said outlet, a mixer. and conveyer for starch arranged to deliver contents into the dextrinizing vessel and an atomizing device for acid arranged to spray acid into the starch in the conveyor and mixer.

8. ln apparatus for manufacturing modi ADOLPH W. H. LEN

Fifitnesses:

L. A. Fannnnenno, G. Y. Snrnnnn, 

